Things were really bleak during that Groce to Underwood transition. Groce had a team with 5 scholarship seniors in the 2-deep that went to the NIT to cap off four straight missed NCAA tournaments (still ticks me off to this day that Malcolm Hill spent his entire time with the Illini and didn't make a single tournament, he deserved better). Then you had Jalen Coleman-Lands transfer who was on paper maybe the best returning player (hey worked out for him, he would have never been around for COVID year and then able to spend 7 years in college and get a national championship ring had he stayed), DJ Williams also goes (less of a loss but he was a fairly high recruit). And at a time when players weren't immediately eligible to transfer in and play right away. So you're in a situation where you just have Black, Finke, Kipper, Lucas and Jordan returning with Black the only former top 100 guy in there, and Groce's recruiting class loses two guys in Tilmon and Pickett.
Maybe it wasn't 0-20 in a single season but that's a really bad situation to be staring into if you're a player like Ayo. We're incredibly lucky that Whitman was able to open up the checkbook and that he was able to get the right guy in Underwood who in turn was able to build the right staff, we got good culture builders in Trent and Damonte that stuck with their commitments despite a coaching change and that a dude like Ayo was built differently and wanted to come in compete and get a program like ours back on track rather than opt for a path that would lead to more immediate and surefire winning (which you can't blame anyone when it's their basketball future they're gambling with). It's not hard to see how things could have gone really differently with how much was riding on that particular coaching hire and then a 10-year down period becomes a 20-year down period, and the money dries up, fan apathy kicks in, etc. (see the issues Illini football has had to overcome).
Anyways, I'll never point fun at a talented player that wants to go help try and revive a hometown school that's in a down period. I admire it. While I would have loved to have him in O&B, I wish him the best of luck at GU.